The nation’s solid mineral sector would get a boost following the commissioning of the National Geosciences Research Laboratories of the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) for public and commercial operations.
The feat, which was achieved through the collaborative efforts of NGSA, Cargo Defense Fund (CDF) and Nexim Bank, would leave operators in the Nigeria’s solid mineral sector including miners having all their mineral laboratory services and analysis done locally and at the miner’s convenience.
The project has been commissioned by the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development.
Speaking at the launch in Abuja recently, Alex Ndubuisi, director-general, NGSA, noted that a nation like Nigeria heavily endowed with mineral wealth had operated for so many years without a world-class mineral laboratory until now.
According to him, this has led to miners and exporters of solid mineral ores suffering untold financial losses and commercial hiccups with their international partners who exploit local operators simply because there was no bankable mineral laboratory to analyse and certify the content of the mineral ore in question.
“The nation has lost so much as a result of this,” he said, added that the 95 years of the existence of the agency had afforded it with the opportunity to diversely work in the nation’s mineral and establish documentaries of these minerals across the nation.
Sani Shehu, president, Miners Association of Nigeria, said the impact of Cargo Defense Fund in trade facilitation had been wonderful across board, saying “I have seen how Cargo Defense Fund had facilitated trade of many other sectors in the economy. I am happy that with CDF focusing on mineral trade, a new dawn has come to the mineral trade in Nigeria. I expect formalisation of this trade now in a professional way.”
Ibrahim Garba, chairman, NGSA, governing board in his address, said the development would reduce cost to miners, give credence to minerals from Nigeria, as “I am very sure that with this laboratory, miners are well positioned to cut costs of mineral assay, which before now were done in United Kingdom, South Africa or Australia. Again, minerals from Nigeria would be coming out now with much credibility as there is a national laboratory with the state of arts equipment to test and analyse any mineral thoroughly, irrespective of its origin.”
Garba also observed that the role of CDF in trade promotion was worth mentioning, as “I am coming in contact with Cargo Defense Fund for the first time, but having gone through the details of what it has done in the mineral sector on trade development. I am very optimistic that mineral trade in Nigeria, being a technical trade, has got all that is required internationally to have it done professionally and legally from Nigeria.”
The CDF got into the mineral trade after it has received incessant complaints from miners and solid mineral exporters who got their mineral exports devalued or even rejected by the overseas partners. Having gone into the problem, the CDF discovered that most of the transactions did not have appropriate documentation backed by any laboratory locally and so the local operators were at the mercy of their international partners, Azuka Ogo, secretary, CDF, said in her opening speech.
According to her, this obvious lack of local certification of the minerals handicapped the CDF in initiating a legal fight against the overseas partners. Following this vacuum, which existed in the nation’s mineral trade, CDF had to come in to facilitate through enlightenment the need for a state-of-the-arts laboratory to breach the gap, she said. “We facilitate trade to all sectors of the economy by providing legal framework and platform, thereby legitimising trade contracts between Nigerian partners and their overseas partners,” she said.
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